Fishman Loudbox Amps

[rarebreed]

Looking to see if anyone here uses a Fishman Loudbox amp for live performance. I have a Loudbox Performer purchased from Sweetwater last July. The amp has been working great. We had a gig last night, first one in a couple of weeks, the amp powered up fine but I cannot get any sound. I tried two different guitars and guitar cables, nothing. I know I'm getting a signal to the input as the clipping light on the amp will flash if the amp is over-driven. The amp has maybe 30 hours of use on it at most and that's what has me puzzled, the last gig I played it worked flawlessly and sounded good, no unusual noises, etc.

 

[abcdefghijklmnop]

The best Fishman Loudboxes are the black ones from the 00s. I have an LBX-300 from 2009, and its fantastic and has never failed. I actually had 2 of them but sold one last year. For whatever reason, Fishman dumbed down the design and started using cheaper components when they redesigned it for the Brown Loadboxes in about 2011. The Brown ones are not as reliable and do not sound nearly as good. Perhaps you can sell it and buy a good used black one.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

For my acoustic duo or trio gigs, I prefer going into our small PA, vs. an acoustic instrument amp.

But for solo gigs ( which are small lounge, or cocktail/background...) my Loudbox Mini is my perfect 'SOLO PA'

I plug my vocal mic into one Channel, guitar into the other, and that's that!
2 completely independent Channels ( volume, EQ, Reverb), good tone plenty of volume
- one 20 lbs. box, a mic stand, and a guitar!
Love it!

 

[brookdalebill]

I have a Loudbox Performer.
It works beautifully, and sounds great, but the covering looks terrible.
It flakes and chips easily.
Otherwise, Aces!

 

[pippoman]

The best Fishman Loudboxes are the black ones from the 00s. I have an LBX-300 from 2009, and it’s fantastic and has never failed. I actually had 2 of them but sold one last year. For whatever reason, Fishman dumbed down the design and started using cheaper components when they redesigned it for the Brown Loadboxes in about 2011. The Brown ones are not as reliable and do not sound nearly as good. Perhaps you can sell it and buy a good used black one.

I have the Black LBX-300 and I agree, but it throws people because they’re so used to seeing the more recent offerings with the tissue thin brown tolex. I recently tried to sell mine on the cheap ($300), but all was quiet. After 2 weeks I wondered why I was selling it in the first place, so I ended all listings on Verb, eBay, marketplace and CL. I won’t be trying that again. I believe it uses 3 different internal amps for the bass, mid and treble. Whatever it is they do, it works, I had the mini loud box and it was okay, but it just paled next to the LBX 300 in terms of high definition acoustic sound and volume. Glad it didn’t sell; I’d still be kicking myself!

 

[pippoman]

I have the Black LBX-300 and I agree, but it throws people because they’re so used to seeing the more recent offerings with the tissue thin brown tolex. I recently tried to sell mine on the cheap ($300), but all was quiet. After 2 weeks I wondered why I was selling it in the first place, so I ended all listings on Verb, eBay, marketplace and CL. I won’t be trying that again. I believe it uses 3 different internal amps for the bass, mid and treble. Whatever it is they do, it works, I had the mini loud box and it was okay, but it just paled next to the LBX 300 in terms of high definition acoustic sound and volume. Glad it didn’t sell; I’d still be kicking myself!

 

[Gene O.]

@rarebreed, did you by chance bump the mute button? I mean, that would something I would do.

I have a Loudbox Performer.
It works beautifully, and sounds great, but the covering looks terrible.
It flakes and chips easily.
Otherwise, Aces!

Same here. Mine looks like crap, but it sounds great!

 

[985plowboy]

I have the loud box mini.
Owned it for 6-7 years and have played it on hundreds of gigs.
I primarily use it as a DI box/stage monitor.
I XLR out the back to the house.

Mine pooped out a few years ago.
It was not under warranty.
I shipped the whole thing back to fishman and they replaced a pot that had gone bad.
Shipping, servicing etc… cost about half the original new purchase price.

Not sure what the issue is with your amp.
If it’s still under warranty hurry up and get it fixed by them.
If the one that I have poops out again, the last sound that it will ever make will be when it rings the back wall of the mini dump.
I’ll buy a new one.

 

[Pickingthru]

I just bought a used Black LBX-300 yesterday on Reverb. It arrives this Friday. Looking forward to trying it out.

 

[uriah1]

Did the vocal channel work. hmm
Maybe something is defeated...ch2
Does the headphone have your sound

 

[teletimetx]

I also have Loudbox Mini. It is work fine, no problem whatever so.

Context: 5-pieces band, I play also electronic guitar and also bari-o-tone, while other guitar bandmate plays acoustic through some converted organ amp and even more there is also mandolin player who plays both acoustic and mando electronico up hooked to a Boss Katana. Plus also bass and drumming person.

This is no high fidelity tight rope to walk.

My electronic stuff is amplify Tremolux head and home builded 1 X 15 cab, the Blue Dog, Weber.

 

[rarebreed]

I 've pushed every button and turned every knob on this amp several times trying to get something out of it, nothing. I've tried both channels using different guitars and cables, I've tried plugging in mics and still, nothing. At this time I'm waiting on a return authorization from Fishman so I can send it in to them. They sent me some instructions on how to pull the amp chassis out of the cabinet to check for loose wires as there are several that could have come un-plugged. They assured me if I did it that it would not void my warranty. The two main gripes I have not including the amp itself not working properly, I have to pay for shipping to return the amp and possibly the repair work, you'd think that something that's less than a year old with about 30 hours use would be covered entirely, and even after it's repaired I'm leery of using it. Oh how I wish someone could build and sell a newer light weight version of my old Peavey Reno 400 acoustic amp. I hauled one of those around for years and many, many gigs. Never so much as a problem with it in 25 years. I've tried a truck load of different acoustic amps in my time and in my opinion for live gig use nothing was better. 210 watts, a 15 inch speaker with twin piezo tweeters what more do you need. It got to be just too big and heavy to pack around

 

[39martind18]

@rarebreed, did you by chance bump the mute button? I mean, that would something I would do.


Same here. Mine looks like crap, but it sounds great!

Bought the Loudbox Artist back in '14, as I recall. it had the same problems with the tolex as yours and @brookdalebill. After a year of very occasional gigging with it and the one that my then-lead player bought and used, they both looked like they had terminal leprosy. When our duo was effectively ended by the Great Viral Unpleasantness, we did a bit of horsetrading and I ended up with both Artists. On a whim, I called Fishman and told them about my great sounding, super ugly Fishman amps. They said if I would ship mine back to them, they would "remedy" the problem. I did, figuring they might recover the amps, or put my amp guts in a new cabinet. Instead, what they did was to replace them with new amps, with the "Bluetooth" upgrade. Very nice, considering both amps were at least 6 years old at the time. It might be worth a shot for you to explore the possibility as well. (The tolex covering on the new amps is perfect after almost four years of use).

 

[Gene O.]

Bought the Loudbox Artist back in '14, as I recall. it had the same problems with the tolex as yours and @brookdalebill. After a year of very occasional gigging with it and the one that my then-lead player bought and used, they both looked like they had terminal leprosy. When our duo was effectively ended by the Great Viral Unpleasantness, we did a bit of horsetrading and I ended up with both Artists. On a whim, I called Fishman and told them about my great sounding, super ugly Fishman amps. They said if I would ship mine back to them, they would "remedy" the problem. I did, figuring they might recover the amps, or put my amp guts in a new cabinet. Instead, what they did was to replace them with new amps, with the "Bluetooth" upgrade. Very nice, considering both amps were at least 6 years old at the time. It might be worth a shot for you to explore the possibility as well. (The tolex covering on the new amps is perfect after almost four years of use).

Now THAT is very interesting. Did you use a dust cover? I might give them a call. Thanks for that info.

 

[39martind18]

Now THAT is very interesting. Did you use a dust cover? I might give them a call. Thanks for that info.

I used, and still do, the Fishman cover. On the old amp, it made no difference, the tolex still rotted. The new amps really look and sound good, and you're most welcome!

 

[mguilfoile]

The problem with the Fishman amps with the deteriorating covering is not simply cosmetic. For some reason, Fishman covered part of the amp head cavity with the same stuff. So all the electronics are sitting in the cabinet with that same material flaking off. Since it is an artificial plastic material it continues to degrade into smaller and smaller sticky, gooey particles. The heat from the amp makes it worse, as these particles become baked on wherever the happen to land on the circuitry. This causes partial shorts and generally ruins the circuit board. It is like sprinkling the board with talcum-powder sized plastic particles that melt in place. My Fishman Artist would sound fine for awhile and the sound like golf balls in a garbage disposal. I took it all apart, used two cans of compressed air, and sealed the interior so no more flaking could occur. It works better now, but I'm shipping it back to Fishman--after giving them this little lesson in organic chemistry. The amp is a ticking time bomb, so can't be trusted. They have promised to fix it free of charge, but I will have to pay for shipping. Nice amp; terrible choice to put an unstable material in the head cavity.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I have a Loudbox Mini and have tried gigging with it a three times.

The first time, I used it as a monitor. I could hear it, but like all monitors, it gave me a false impression of what the room was hearing.

The second, I used it to amp my guitar while vocals and the other guitars were going through the PA. But another player turned the sound off and didn't tell me, so the audience never heard the amp.

The third, time it was the only amplification I used at a solo pub gig. It was loud enough but awkward. I like it more when a speaker is raised to head height. The sound quality wasn't very good, either. All in all, I would've been happier unamplified. It would've been loud enough.

So I'm not particularly criticizing the Loudbox — just acoustic amps in general. I'll also add that using an electric guitar amp for acoustic guitar and vocals has worked just as well for me. (Hosa sells an XLR-to-quarter-inch transformer for about twenty bucks.)

All in all, for gigging I'm happier with a PA (I have a simple rig for my rare solo gigs) or no amplification at all.

 

[schmee]

The Mini I had worked perfectly. I redid the exterior with the gummy brown non-tolex though. But I moved on to a couple other acoustic small amps and have to say, any one of them were fine and nearly the same. The mini was almost too 'mini' for me though.
I just have a Fender Acoustasonic 40 now and it's fine. I use my Princeton Reverb for most solo /duo gigs though. I'd probably like an acoustic amp with a 12" speaker better than the small ones I have had and I'm not that fond of tiny piezo horns in an amp either.